Metro Lutheranhttp://metrolutheran.org
Wed, 07 May 2014 02:39:27 +0000en-UShourly1https://wordpress.org/?v=4.8.5When Lutheran districts, synods select their spiritual leadershttp://metrolutheran.org/2014/04/when-lutheran-districts-synods-select-their-spiritual-leaders/
Thu, 03 Apr 2014 13:18:36 +0000http://metrolutheran.org/?p=10137 read on ..]]>Choosing a district president or a synod bishop is not something Lutherans take lightly. The consequences can be significant — even fateful — for the fortunes of a denomination.

The first spiritual leader of the Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod (LCMS) was a bishop who went astray and nearly destroyed the fledgling denomination. He was deposed and replaced with Dr. C.F.W. Walther (who wasn’t called a bishop, partly because of that unhappy experience).

Sometimes the selection of a new spiritual leader catches everyone off-guard — including the successful candidate. At its last churchwide assembly, voting members of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) surprised themselves by failing to re-elect the incumbent (who had made himself available for re-election) and, instead, chose their first-ever female bishop. When she spoke to the press after her election, the Rev. Elizabeth Eaton declared that she had agreed to allow her name to be placed in nomination in order to expand the conversation about mission and ministry, but quipped, “And then things just sort of got out of hand.”

Black smoke from a chimney in the Sistine Chapel announces that two-thirds of the Papal Conclave did not agree on a future pope for the Roman Catholic Church. Image in the public domain

Lutherans, like all Christians, extending back to the beginning of the worldwide faith community, have struggled to find authentic ways to discern God’s will — especially when it comes to selecting leadership. Perhaps the first time the challenge was faced was the day the remaining 11 disciples of Jesus took steps to replace Judas Isacariot, who had ended his own life.

Careful readers of the New Testament Book of the Acts of the Apostles are sometimes surprised — appalled, even — to discover that the method used to select Matthias as their new “number 12” was by casting lots. Nobody knows exactly what happened, but it seems clear that some sort of game of chance was used (not unlike the one used by the soldiers at the foot of the cross, who cast lots in order to decide who among them would win possession of Jesus’ seamless robe). It might have involved the roll of dice or the flip of a coin — or something else altogether.

How does casting lots help to discern the will of God? The writer of Acts doesn’t explain that. But the important thing in that case was that those involved trusted God to be at work in the process. The same confidence has guided every method Christians have used since (including entrusting a room full of Roman Catholic cardinals with the task of picking one among them to be the spiritual leader of that denomination).

‘Lots’ of ways of choicing a leader

Lutherans in the geography served by Metro Lutheran do not use uniform processes to select their presidents and bishops. (They do agree about one thing: none of them prefer to cast lots when making the choice).

A survey of the several constituencies in Minnesota and western Wisconsin reveals some interesting patterns.

Three of the Minnesota synods of the ELCA surface candidates for bishop at conference conventions. Minneapolis Area, St. Paul Area, and Southwest Minnesota synods all follow this pattern. In the two Twin Cities area synods, a conference may nominate three candidates to be included on the assembly ballot. In the Southwest Minnesota Synod, conferences may nominate five individuals.

The ELCA’s Southeastern Minnesota Synod, along with both Minnesota districts of the LCMS, take a more grass-roots approach. For Southeastern Minnesota ELCA and the LCMS Minnesota South and North districts, congregations are invited to send nominations forward, one from each parish. In the case of the first two judicatories, the names go through a filtering process, with a list of finalists submitted to the synod assembly or district convention. In the case of LCMS Minnesota North District, the top ten nominees from congregations are sent directly to the convention.

Perhaps the most democratic process of all is practiced by members of the Association of Free Lutheran Congregations (AFLC). The president of this church body is elected by voting delegates to a convention at which any member in good standing of any congregation may vote.

The ELCA synods serving Minneapolis, St. Paul and Southeastern Minnesota, along with the Northwest Synod of Wisconsin, have two-term limits for bishop (six years each term). There are no term limits for the LCMS and WELS districts, nor for the ELCA’s Southwestern Minnesota Synod.

Is one method of selecting a Lutheran church leader better than another? It’s hard to say. Each approach has its advantages and its drawbacks. No matter which system is employed, the intent is always the same — to work in accordance with the New Testament formula, “It seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us.” That implies a healthy mix of faith, hope, good will and charity on the part of all involved.

St. Paul Synod’s Bishop Rogness stepping down

When voting members of the ELCA’s St. Paul Area Synod (SPAS) gather in May, they will elect a new bishop. But they will also bid farewell to a long-serving church leader. The Rev. Peter Rogness, who has served SPAS for the past 12 years, and is term-limited, will retire on July 1.

The Rev Peter Rogness, bishop of the St. Paul Area Synod

It has been a long run and a consequential ministry for Rogness, beginning with his 1973 ordination. A pastor in Milwaukee, his second call was to a predominantly black congregation on the city’s north side. It was an early introduction to the challenge of matching parish ministry with social justice.

During his service in St. Paul, Rogness did seminal work in ministry addressing wealth inequality. He authored the 2004 document A Common Foundation: Shared Principles for Overcoming Poverty. It shaped the synod’s efforts to end poverty and has been endorsed by over 30 ecumenical leaders across Minnesota.

Rogness told Metro Lutheran the anti-poverty initiative was one of the key accomplishments during his time in St. Paul, pointing out that he inherited the effort. The synod had committed itself to such work before his arrival. Still, his energy gave new life to the work.

“The economy wasn’t doing very well,” he recalls. “Government was pulling back. There was a threat to vulnerable people. Social programs were being cut. [In the midst of all of that] we were able to advocate for the poor.”

It was an important initiative, he stresses. “We were a catalyst for wider ecumenical work. That was a very good thing.”

Part of that cross-denominational partnership took the form of ecumenical work with the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minnesota, and personal interaction with then-Archbishop Harry Flynn. It resulted in significant positive legislative response on the part of the state legislature.

Embodying a common foundation

The former president of Concordia University, an LCMS school in St. Paul, has an intimate recollection of Rogness’ tenure. Says Dr. Robert Holst, “Bishop Peter Rogness and I have co-hosted a regular share-care-and-prayer breakfast for the 12 years of his St. Paul Synod bishopric. We invited five LCMS and five ELCA church servant-leaders to discuss vision, methods, challenges, and blessings of urban mission and ministry.”

Rogness’ evangelical experiences, nature, and faith, says Holst, “promoted and supported insightful discussion of current issues as well as open and honest theological sharing. His willingness to explore complex issues openly showed a true servant leader’s heart and skill that freed us all to move outside the perimeters of church politics into the context of biblical exploration and interpretation.”

As he prepares to step away from the bishop’s office, Rogness identifies a couple of sobering challenges yet to be addressed.

“We need more clearly to reflect the society of which we are a part,” he says. “We are still predominantly white and Northern European. That’s a very nice group of people, but our neighborhoods don’t all reflect that. We need to break out of our narrowly-defined identity. That’s a big challenge.”

And, there’s the challenge of post-Christendom. “We used to be the cultural mainstay. That’s not the case anymore. Now people are drawn into faith communities because they sense something that makes them more alive. We need to be authentically living in the new context. That’s not just true for Lutherans, by the way. It’s a challenge for all Christians.”

After his retirement in July, Rogness says he will not be looking for another call. “I’m old enough to retire,” he says, adding somewhat whimsically, “I’ll wait to see what God and my wife have in mind for me to do next.”

This fragment of 1st Century papyrus was recently discovered by a work study student in the Orlando W. Qualley collection at the Luther College Archives, housed in the school’s library. Photo provided by Luther College

Most student work-study jobs are a bit of a grind. But in January, nine papyri documents almost 2,000 years old were discovered by a student in the Luther College library archives, where they had remained hidden in a cardboard box for decades.

Luther sophomore Brittany Anderson, a double major in biology and anthropology, was conducting a routine inventory of the papers of the late Orlando W. Qualley, longtime professor of classics and dean of the college, when she came across the nine ancient documents among Qualley’s letters and journals donated to the college in the 1980s. The papyri — one of which, a libellus, is especially rare — date from the first to the fifth centuries A.D. and were apparently purchased by Qualley from an antiquities dealer when he was part of a University of Michigan archaeological excavation team at Karanis, south of Cairo, in 1924-25.

“Luther College is incredibly fortunate to have in its possession the Qualley papyri, especially the libellus, a rare and invaluable find from the early centuries of Christian history,” said Philip Freeman, Qualley Chair of Ancient Languages at Luther. “As soon as they are properly preserved, we hope to display all the papyri in our library for everyone to see. They provide a great opportunity for our students to examine a genuine piece of the ancient world.”

The stories papyrus can tell

A federal grant awarded to Luther College and the Vesterheim Museum in 2010 provided funding to create an online catalogue to increase access for scholars around the world. Although the funding has since ended, the project continued. As part of her work-study, Anderson was doing an inventory of boxes received in November 1986 when she came across the papyri. “It was exciting; I knew I had come across something interesting.”

This papyrus fragment was discovered in a plastic bag inside a book that had been packed in a box of the Luther College Archives.

The papyri date from the first to the fifth centuries A.D.

“Finding these fragments met the goal of this [cataloguing] project,” Sasha Griffin, college archivist, told Metro Lutheran. “They join other significant materials, including, specifically, the Norwegian Lutheran collections, as well as papyri donated to the rare book collection of the library in the 1970s.”

The nine papyri of the recent discovery, written in ancient Greek, measure from 5 to 20 centimeters in length and are in remarkably good shape, though all are fragmentary and quite fragile. Papyrus was the primary writing medium of the ancient world and was made from the interwoven fibers of the papyrus plant, which grows along the banks of the Nile River.

Upon finding the documents, Anderson contacted the Luther Classics Department faculty, who examined the papyri and in turn contacted the Papyrus Collection staff at the University of Michigan, one of the leading centers of papyrus study in the world, for help in identifying and analyzing the discoveries. Several are accounting documents, but papyrologist Graham Clayton immediately identified one as a libellus dating from the first great Roman persecution of Christians beginning under Emperor Decius in the year 250.

Decius issued a decree that year ordering all inhabitants of the empire to offer a sacrifice to the gods as a show of loyalty. A libellus was a document given to a Roman citizen to confirm the performance of such a sacrifice. Christians were forbidden by their beliefs from performing these sacrifices and were thus subject to arrest, torture and execution for refusing to obey the emperor’s decree. Pope Fabian was among those who refused to sacrifice and was subsequently killed by the Roman authorities.

The Luther College libellus bears the name of Aurelius Ammon, a servant of the well-attested Aurelius Appianus, a leading citizen of Alexandria, Egypt. It declares that Aurelius Ammon has sacrificed “in accordance with the orders” of the emperor. The papyrus was probably part of a collection made in ancient times from the village of Theadelphia in Egypt’s Fayum region. Only a few of these rare documents have been uncovered, and they are currently housed in research libraries in Hamburg, Berlin, Manchester, Florence, and the University of Michigan. Now, Decorah, Iowa, joins the list.

Luther College is receiving estimates for the cost of preserving all the Qualley papyri and making them available online in digital format. “Ideally, they would be put on exhibit” at Luther, said Griffin. The items will be integrated into teaching in both the classics and museum studies concentration programs. “The archives [at Luther] are quite good for a college our size,” Griffin added.

]]>Wheatridge Ministries launches unique crowdfunding websitehttp://metrolutheran.org/2014/03/wheatridge-ministries-launches-unique-crowdfunding-website/
Sun, 30 Mar 2014 18:27:19 +0000http://metrolutheran.org/?p=10112 read on ..]]>For more than a century, Wheat Ridge Ministries (WRM) has provided funding and support for inspired leaders starting new health-related ministries. But that doesn’t mean it isn’t sometimes on the cutting edge. The launch of WeRaise, WRM’s new Christian crowdfunding program, is just one more sign of its willingness to innovate.

“WeRaise is an exciting new tool God is already using to equip and send out leaders in communities around the world,” Abigail Miller, program lead, told Metro Lutheran. “The global trend is to get more projects in the door, and WeRaise fits into a bigger strategic plan [for WRM] to build awareness of what we do.”

WeRaise offers Christian nonprofit organizations a new way to raise support and awareness around a new ministry initiative that meets community needs and brings health, hope, and healing.

WeRaise shares basic similarities with other crowdfunding sites, such as KickStarter or Indiegogo. Project leaders communicate a vision through a brief description, post a video, and spread the word through social media and other communication channels. But WeRaise is different, according to Miller, offering unique benefits compared to traditional fundraising:

* Millennial Engagement: Crowdfunding utilizes trends among Millennials — the desire to see that funds and faith have tangible impact while recognizing the valuable resource found in virtual community and instant connectivity.

* Unique Donor Experience: All projects are vetted by WRM, meaning donors only give to legitimate organizations with a Christian mission. Additionally, gifts given through WeRaise are tax-deductible.

* Creativity and Flexibility: Crowdfunding allows organizations space to think outside the box — an idea that may be unusual, but if the community sees potential in it, they can choose to fund it.

Miller cites many advantages to WeRaise, stressing “Projects get to test their market. They can generate community buy in and demonstrate a support structure that makes them even more attractive for traditional grants from Wheatridge.”

For more information or to support a project, visit the site at www.WeRaise.us to learn more and see past and current projects. Questions and requests for additional information may be directed to Abigail Miller at WeRaise@WheatRidge.org.

]]>Help us reinvent Metro Lutheranhttp://metrolutheran.org/2014/03/help-us-reinvent-metro-lutheran/
Sun, 30 Mar 2014 12:38:43 +0000http://metrolutheran.org/?p=10135 read on ..]]>The board of Metro Lutheran is reinventing news for Lutherans in the Twin Cities region, and it needs your help. If you are interested in sharing your opinions, please call 612/255-4071 and answer three quick questions. It will take less than five minutes of your time.

Here is what we want to know.

1) Would you pay a small subscription fee (about $15 per year) to continue to receive news and information connecting the local Lutheran community?

2) Would a quarterly magazine-style format be more or less appealing to you than a monthly newspaper format?

3) Would you be interested in electronic forms of publication that can be read on devices like iPads or Kindles?

Again, call 612/255-4071 and listen for the questions and prompts to share your opinions. Thanks for helping shape the future of the Metro Lutheran.

It was Prieb’s third inquiry to Howe Sound — the first in 1957 when Wes learned mining had ended and Holden town was abandoned, another in 1958. His 1960 letter said: “[Holden’s] property might be a desirable place for the use of the church or Lutheran Bible Institute as a summer camp … for young people. Information [about asking price] will be deeply appreciated.”

Howe Sound had replied to Prieb’s two earlier inquiries, saying the village was “for sale at $100,000.” The company hoped to sell it as a mountain resort, but no buyer had appeared. The 1960 response, a telegram, asked Prieb to phone “our office in Salt Lake City.”

Wes called and was told Howe Sound would give the property to Lutheran Bible Institute, asking only that LBI “send a statement saying it had received a gift in the amount of $100,000.”

Holden Village is a well-known Lutheran retreat center near Chelan, Washington. It had been a mining camp until an entrepreneurial Lutheran named Wes Prieb convinced its donation for youth ministry. Photo provided by Holden Village

When Prieb first announced the offer, some Lutherans thought it was an April Fool’s joke. It sounded “phony and a bit ridiculous,” said LBI President E.V. Stime.

But two months later, LBI decided to have a look. Visiting the property was a team including Stime and Prieb, who’d just finished his LBI studies. They were impressed by its possibilities and recommended that LBI receive the gift.

By December 1960, negotiations with Howe Sound for legal receipt of the gift were finished. Because the town sits on Forest Service land, that federal agency needed to okay its operation as a church facility — and it did.

A village is born

Youth departments of national Lutheran bodies were then drawn into planning. LBI and youth leaders jointly crafted a purpose statement, saying Holden would be a “center where youth and adults interested in youth may find spiritual, intellectual, and physical renewal for Kingdom service.”

A permanent Holden board was created, with representatives from LBI and national youth offices; it first met in May 1961. And because LBI declined any permanent responsibility, a separate Holden corporation was created.

An early concern was what to name the enterprise. The mining town had been known simply as “Holden” — after James Henry Holden, the prospector who’d discovered ore in 1896 and in 1899 had formed Holden Gold and Copper Mining Company. (No mining occurred until 1938, 20 years after Holden died, but the name “Holden Mine” had lived on.) Suggestions for the Lutheran center included “Holden Village in Luther Alps” and “Hidden Village.” The new board chose “Holden Village: A Place Apart” — to most it’s remained simply “Holden Village.”

Holden was envisioned initially as a program center for youth and young adults, and the younger generation did provide vital volunteer service during restoration work (the summers of 1961 and 1962), plus during Holden’s half-century of service since. But from the beginning, Holden has welcomed families and offered programs for all generations.

Two of Holden’s early on-site leaders came from Lutheran youth leadership, and from Minneapolis. Wilton Bergstrand, youth director of the Swedish-background Augustana Church, in the summer of 1961 directed nearly 50 work-campers who prepared the Village for receiving guests. The next summer he and his wife Dolores Bergstrand provided program leadership for the first guests.

Holden’s first executive director was Carroll Hinderlie, who had been the youth director for the Norwegian-background Evangelical Lutheran Church until its 1960 merger into The ALC. From 1963 to 1977, Carroll and his wife Mary Hinderlie were shaping Holden into a center for “hospitality and hilarity inspired by the Gospel.” Hinderlie enjoyed noting that a divine challenge came when “God gave a gift like this to God’s least imaginative people — the Lutherans.”

What about the young man whose letters led to Lutheran inheritance of Holden? When asked what he had hoped his inquiries might accomplish, Wes Prieb would say he never expected Howe Sound to “give the property away, but I hoped they would reduce the price, or some miracle might happen.” Prieb spent much of his later life there, serving as Holden’s PHD (pool hall director) for 32 consecutive summers, from 1968 through 1999. He died in early 2000.

Though operated by Lutherans, Holden is known as an ecumenical center for renewal, with a priority focus on faith and society concerns. It is known also as a place of “holy hilarity.” Elmer Witt, an LCMS pastor who was Village director in the 1980s, noted that “Holden is one of very few church-related organizations with the word humor in its incorporation articles.”

Holden has been a prized destination for Minnesotans. Its attendees over the past half-century have been outnumbered only by those from Washington state.

Through all its Lutheran life, Holden has been acutely aware of living with mine remains. Drainage from inside the mine cavity and ore tailings outside have contaminated the environment. The federal government decades ago declared it a disaster area needing cleanup. Rio Tinto, a large mining corporation, has accepted responsibility for massive mine remediation; now under way, it will be completed in 2015.

During construction seasons (May-November) Holden houses remediation workers and volunteers doing Village renewal, leaving no room for guests. In 2013 its revised summer program included “Holden on the Road” — at locales across the continent, several of them in Minnesota.

Now Holden is launching “Refresh, Renew, Rejoice,” a capital campaign seeking $4.8 million. It will follow mine cleanup with restoration of Holden’s 75-year-old buildings and infrastructure. Village friends, old and new, are asked to help. For specifics, visit www.holdenvillage.org or email development@holdenvillage.org.

So, 54 years after Wes Prieb’s April First letter, Holden Village continues, a gift serving both church and world. Always, it serves with fun — and that’s no April Fool’s joke!

Charles P. Lutz, editor-emeritus of Metro Lutheran, is a member of Lutheran Church of Christ the Redeemer (ELCA), Minneapolis. He is author of Surprising Gift: the Story of Holden Village, Church Renewal Center (Holden Village Press, 1987).

For surely I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans for your welfare and not for harm, to give you a future with hope.

Jeremiah 29:11

As parents, we wish there would never be a reason for our children to have to be resilient — no bumps and bruises to body, mind, or spirit. But we live in a world that teaches us otherwise. Our children, despite our best efforts to protect and insulate them, will be hurt. They will endure physical pain and injury. Their hearts will be hurt, both intentionally and unintentionally. Their dreams will be dashed. Friends and family, teachers and bosses will disappoint. And, they may experience terrible losses.

Of course, we will not knowingly put our child in harm’s way, and we will strive to protect that child from the life-altering scars. We will create safe boundaries. We will work for a world that is safer for all of God’s children.

Parents have a gift far better than the dream of insulating their child from life’s hard knocks. We can help them build resilience — skills and strategies to endure the slings and arrows that life will throw at them, to view setbacks as an opportunity to take a new and potentially better road, to encourage others during their dark times, and to know and claim their own strength.

How will we do this?

* Listen to your child, so that you hear and understand whatever is causing pain. Ask open questions, like “Tell me more,” then, listen some more.

* Empathize, acknowledging that this is hard and painful and that you ache with your child. Share a story from your experience, but keep it short and don’t try to trump your child’s story.

* Observe what your child seems to be feeling. Then, help them find words to describe the feeling.

* Remind your child of a time when he went through a challenging situation and emerged stronger … and, yes, resilient! “I remember a time when you …” and tell the story.

Parents can help their children build resilience.

* Brainstorm ideas your child could use to address and resolve the situation. Let your child generate the first, and most, of the ideas. Be the scribe and write them down. When they have five or more ideas, simply ask “How do you suppose that would work out?” about each one. “Which idea will you choose to try first?” “When will you do that?” “After you are done, let’s talk about how it worked out.” As the parent, you can steer your child from the ideas that do not reflect the values your family embraces.

* Predict a bright, healed, joyous, successful future … with hope! Remind your child that God created her, loves her, and is with her every step of the way.

* Encourage your child by believing, really believing, in him and expressing your confidence. “I know that this is really hard and I know that you can do it. What support do you need from me?”

* Model grace and forgiveness in your life and catch your child doing the same.

What are some of the things to avoid? Please don’t:

* Declare it a catastrophe by letting your child believe that this is the worst thing in the world that could have befallen them or any other human being. Help your child keep it in perspective.

* Minimize by declaring this really is just a little thing, of no consequence. “I can’t believe you even take this seriously!”

* Compete by having a Betty Crocker Suffer Off. “You think that’s bad? Do you know what happened to me?”

* Lie for your child, when you know that your child did something wrong, by creating a false alibi or saying, “My child would never say that. The other boy must just be trying to get my child in trouble.”

* Use a demeaning name to label your child. Your child is not mean or selfish or bad. Separate your child’s personhood — a beloved and forgiven child of God — from behavior. “Your behavior was unkind and not worthy of the kind person I know you to be. How will you repair this relationship? What could you do next time?”

* Shame your child by demanding, “How could you be so stupid?” “What were you thinking of?” “How many times do I have to tell you?”

Take it all to God in prayer. God is the one who created and loved your child first. God built human beings to be resilient. That is one of the things it means to be made in God’s image. Celebrate your child’s capacity for, and examples of, resilience!

Marilyn Sharpe is an author, teacher, presenter, and congregational coach for Marilyn Sharpe Ministries, LLC. She is the author of the book For Heaven’s Sake: Parenting Preschoolers Faithfully. Email: MarilynSharpeMinistries@comcast.net; phone: 612/202-8152.

]]>Finlandia takes a step forward in athletics expansion goalshttp://metrolutheran.org/2014/03/finlandia-takes-a-step-forward-in-athletics-expansion-goals/
Sun, 30 Mar 2014 00:14:52 +0000http://metrolutheran.org/?p=10121 read on ..]]>Finlandia University is “going deep” in its goal to grow by announcing a search for a head football coach, initiating a series of new NCAA Division III sport offerings at the Hancock, Michigan, campus.

The expansion of Division III athletics is a component of Finlandia’s Seven-year Strategic Plan. The university will launch seven new NCAA sports programs over the next seven years.

The football coach search will help to secure affiliation in an established NCAA Division III athletics conference. General affiliation in an established athletics conference is necessary for offering the academic and athletic benefits its student-athletes deserve.

Finlandia President Philip Johnson explained, “I am convinced that growing our NCAA Division III programs reaps benefits … for our entire campus community. It is good for all of Finlandia. It is good for the Copper Country. It is good for the Upper Peninsula. So let’s do some good.”

Planners of this year’s Nobel Peace Prize Forum, hosted by Augsburg College and the University of Minnesota, took full advantage of electronic technology to connect with peace-lovers across the globe. Plenary sessions and special-interest sessions featured connectivity with students and other interested participants in 41 countries, in locations as diverse as Norway, Africa, and Japan. In a workshop exploring the phenomenon of “crowdsourcing” — using the best efforts of widely-scattered volunteers to do scientific research for peaceful purposes — resource speakers in Copenhagen and Oxford contributed their expertise via the Internet, sharing PowerPoint slide shows from overseas.

In the large group sessions, participants outside the Twin Cities were invited to send questions to the presenters through the “Google Plus” platform. It was not uncommon to hear the moderator announce, “This next question comes from Osaka, Japan,” or “We have this observation from a student at the American College of Norway.”

Anyone with live-stream capabilities on his or her computer could view any of the sessions in real time.

This year’s Nobel Peace Prize Forum featured four distinct themes, each one developed on a separate day. On Faith and Peace Day, March 1, a sellout crowd filled the Minneapolis Convention Center to hear from His Holiness the Fourteenth Dalai Lama. (Ironically, although the Dalai Lama came advocating peace, his presence in the U.S. provoked a starkly belligerent response from the the government of the People’s Republic of China, which deemed his appearance in the U.S. to be “highly provocative.”)

On the following weekend, three more themed days explored peace issues related to Law and Business (March 7), Science and Health (March 8), and Global Concerns (March 9). Keynoters addressed large crowds at Ted Mann Concert Hall on the U of M’s West Bank campus.

Unsustainable inequalities

Kicking off Law and Business Day was New York University professor Michael Posner, a noted human rights advocate. He told the audience that he believes the U.S. investment community behaves badly because its priorities are skewed. Said Posner, “I’m surprised how many CEOs tell me, ‘The pressure I feel to meet quarterly expectations from investors is crushing.’ The average CEO doesn’t survive in office more than four years. This is partly why.”

Strand explained that Scandinavians see a company’s stakeholders to be both employees and shareholders.

He responded to a question, “Why do [people] hate business so much?” by saying, “I don’t think it’s right to hate business. It can be and has been a force for good. The challenge is to insure reasonable profits while creating an environment that honors human rights.”

Addressing the topic of sustainability in Scandinavia was Robert Strand, director of the Nordic Network for Sustainability, based at the Copenhagen Business School. He stressed the need to develop good business practices that serve the common good. In Scandinavia, he explained, the typical ratio between CEO salaries and the average employee in a CEO’s firm is 30 to 1. In the U.S., by contrast, the average ratio is 300 to 1. “That in itself,” he said, “is unsustainable.”

Strand explained that Scandinavians see a company’s stakeholders to be both employees and shareholders, the consequence of which is that worker upward mobility is far more possible than in the U.S. He said conservatives in the U.S. talk as if upward mobility is “the American dream,” but then quoted economist Richard Wilkenson. In an on-line TED talk, titled “Inequality,” Wilkenson famously declared, “If you want to achieve the American dream these days, you should seriously consider moving to Denmark.”

A small view of the world

A highlight of Science and Health Day was a presentation by Dr. William Foege, former director of the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) in Atlanta. A Lutheran pastor’s son and a graduate of Pacific Lutheran University, Foege is credited with having taken key steps to help eradicate smallpox. Emphasizing the need to respect and embrace all of humanity, he told his audience, “Every atom inside of us has been somewhere else. Every atom inside of you has, for example, spent time inside of a gay person. Of course, if you’re homophobic, this could be bad news for you.” (That line drew extended applause from the crowd.)

He described with enthusiasm the ways in which the pharmaceutical industry is beginning to embrace philanthropy for the common good. “In the last 15 years, there has been a sudden acceleration in medical progress. The number of corporations getting involved in global health is exciting. Merck started it by giving away a medicine originally developed for use in dogs. It was tested on humans in Africa. It turned out to be effective in stopping river blindness in human beings. Merck has given away one billion free treatments of their drug by now.”

Foege believes the tipping point in global health came in the year 2000. The credit, he says, goes to Melinda and Bill Gates, whose foundation has led the way in promoting and financially supporting global health.

He defined peace as “rewriting history in hopeful terms before it happens.” Civilization, he said, is best understood as “the way people treat each other.” Then he added, “Civilized behavior is organized kindness.”

Foege had harsh words for those who use misinformation to spread fear in the population, retarding good health outcomes. He was particularly scornful of the pseudo-scientist who wrote in The Lancet, the British medical journal, that there was “a good chance” that inoculations could lead to autism in children.

“[This man] has done more damage to global health than possibly anyone else,” Foege maintained, arguing that the results of such misinformation are notoriously difficult to undo. He suggested that autism is probably caused by something before birth, not after.

On the topic of child labor and the misery caused by poor working conditions in underdeveloped countries, Foege said, “The slavery of today is caused by Americans and others in the developed world who benefit from those in the Third World who give us cheap clothing, cheap food, and cheap hotel rooms. We should be ashamed of ourselves for tolerating this.”

He berated policymakers whose myopic behavior would eliminate U.S. partnerships with other nations in the field of global health. He said, “A hostile congressman once asked me, ‘Why do you spend CDC money — dollars from America’s hard-working taxpayers — on people overseas?’ I asked him, ‘Did you get your flu shot this year?’ He said he had. I told him, ‘In that flu shot you received something called the Leningrad strain, shared with us by our friends in the [then] Soviet Union. So now you have Soviet antibodies flowing in your veins. They shared their expertise with us. Shouldn’t we be sharing ours with other nations as well?”

Looking for ‘ordinary peacemakers’

Keynoting Global Concerns Day was Liberian peace activist Leymah Gbowee. The 2011 Nobel Peace Prize winner appeared in the colorful African dress that is her trademark when addressing audiences. She explained that her unusual attire has at times caused her more than a little inconvenience — sometimes with amusing outcomes.

Foege defined peace as “rewriting history in hopeful terms before it happens.”

“Once on the way to give a speech, I was detained at Dulles Airport, outside Washington, D.C., along with lots of ‘funny looking’ people. You know the type — long beards, turbans, dark skin, anything that might suggest a potential terrorist is trying to get into the country. I faced the prospect of waiting for hours at the end of this long line of detainees, with the certainty I would miss getting to my appointment in time. My impatient young daughter suddenly raced away from me and found a U.S. flag on a pole, in which she wrapped herself. She then approached the security officers, one after another, and started hugging them around their legs. In five minutes, probably to get her out of the room, there came the announcement over the loudspeaker, ‘Ms. Gbowee, welcome to America. You’re free to go.’”

“We need,” Gbowee said, “to be able to see people for who they are, to look beyond their headdresses, costumes, skin color, and customs.” She urged her listeners to look at strangers like a curious book reader. “Open the book. Don’t judge by the cover.”

She called for “ordinary citizens of the world” to become “ordinary peacemakers.” Reflecting on her experience, helping to get armed enemies to lay down their weapons and make peace in Liberia, she told how the mothers of boys, teenagers, and young men who had become mercenary soldiers made peace with their children.

“[The young mercenaries] had grown their hair long and had been wearing dreadlocks, signs of their membership in the killing squads. Their mothers showed their readiness to welcome them back into peaceful society by going to them and giving them haircuts. It was an act of reconciliation. The former killers saw it as a powerful act of peacemaking.”

Said Gbowee, “The good people of this world have stepped back and allowed the minority with evil intentions to take over. It is high time for people of good will to step forward and set things right again.” Until we step out with courage, she said, evil people will come and occupy our space.

“There are plenty of things we can do to turn the tide,” she maintained. “The international news carries stories about injustices and massacres around the world. The majority remains silent. That needs to change. We can find ways to help people change the way they think. What we settle on might be something very small, but we need to start.”

Other keynoters at the conference included Sister Helen Prejean, an activist against the death penalty; Dr. Ian Bremmer, president and founder of The Eurasia Group; and Deane Marchbein, M.D., director of Doctors Without Borders (Medecins sans Frontieres).

The Nobel Peace Prize Forum is hosted annually on the campuses of Augsburg and the U of M. Sponsoring institutions are the six U.S. Lutheran colleges and universities with Norwegian heritage — Augsburg, St. Olaf, Luther, Augustana (Sioux Falls), Concordia (Moorhead), and Pacific Lutheran University.

]]>The final issuehttp://metrolutheran.org/2014/03/the-final-issue/
Sat, 29 Mar 2014 22:39:35 +0000http://metrolutheran.org/?p=10109 read on ..]]>The Metro Lutheran will cease monthly print publication with the April issue. The Board of Directors made this decision primarily because we were not able to stabilize our income as advertising revenue declined. All print newspapers face this same dynamic, and Metro Lutheran has not been immune.

Our mission to bring together news and views from all Lutheran denominations in the greater metro area has been a valuable contribution to the life of Lutherans here for 29 years.

Michael L. Edwins

The response from readers to this news almost always starts with “I’m very sad.” The Board shares this sadness, and grieves the loss of the voice of Metro Lutheran among us. Metro Lutheran was a model of collaboration among Lutherans in this area, Lutherans who are anything but homogenous. We represent a wide range of theological and civic perspectives and are, therefore, an important reflection of the culture of this metropolitan area.

An independent, pan-Lutheran voice

The board is deeply grateful for the leadership of the editors that have guided Metro Lutheran over the years. We especially thank Bob Hulteen for his years of service as editor and wish him well as he transitions to a new position with the Minneapolis Area Synod of the ELCA. We also express our gratitude to Jean Johansson for 24 years of service. She has been an important foundation for our work during every one of those years.

Norman Kretzmann’s original vision of bringing us together as Lutherans remains an important one. We hope that its expression will find life in a new form that will be financially viable as well as informative. As a board, we are so thankful to the donors, congregations, and advertisers who have distributed, read, encouraged, and supported Metro Lutheran over the years.

We are exploring alternatives to a monthly newspaper as an expression of the mission that ignited the paper. To that end, we encourage those who care about this mission to take a brief phone survey. Find the box on the front page of this issue, call the number listed, and respond to the prompts.

Michael L. Edwins, a retired ELCA pastor, is president of Metro Lutheran’s Board of Directors.

]]>Thank youhttp://metrolutheran.org/2014/03/thank-you/
Sat, 29 Mar 2014 22:19:06 +0000http://metrolutheran.org/?p=10106 read on ..]]>I have regularly told friends that I am the luckiest person alive. As the editor of Metro Lutheran, I have received financial compensation to participate in events, discussions, and even controversies that I would find interesting even without pay. I have often been astounded by the high quality of discussion and action I have been witness to.

Through a diverse set of institutions — colleges, hospitals, social service agencies, denominational offices, nonprofit organizations — Lutherans live out a vocation of service and evangelism. Although our brokenness is ever-apparent, we are so deeply engaged with God’s world.

Bob Hulteen

Now I will be working inside the church, not just beside it.

But, with a mixture of sadness and excitement, I must announce that this issue marks my last one covering these events for Metro Lutheran. I have accepted a position as Director of Communications and Stewardship with the Minneapolis Area Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. While I have already taken on some responsibilities there, I officially begin my duties full time on April 1 (no fooling).

I have never actually worked for a denomination before. Almost all of my workplaces — Southern Columbia Heights Tenants Union, Sojourners magazine, Twin Cities Religion and Labor Network, Interfaith Worker Justice, and Metro Lutheran — are parachurch organizations. Such independent groups can serve as a balance to the tendency of self-legitimation that can happen inside of any institution.

Now I will be working inside the church, not just beside it. I wonder how this angle of vision will alter my perception of the church.

‘Love to tell the story’

As the synod’s Director of Communications and Stewardship, I will continue to hear and amplify the stories of “ordinary” Lutherans doing “extraordinary” things by grace through faith. I will have the honor of shaping a message about this engagement to appeal both inside and outside of the church.

I am especially excited to join the staff at the Minneapolis Area Synod. I have known three of the staff members for more than 30 years. Others I have only recently met. But I believe strongly in the vision of the church that is being developed and shared, a message of God’s mercy and grace that is lived out by the community of faithful sinner/saints every day in every corner of this synod.

There are too many people to thank to do an adequate job. So I will make my list short. My two predecessors as editor of Metro Lutheran — Chuck Lutz and Mike Sherer — have each been significant mentors for me. I have told them that already; now I tell you. And, my colleague Jean Johansson handles her many duties with such competence and grace; I am always amazed.

I hope that my path crosses those of the many wonderful Lutheran lay and clergy leaders I have come to know over the last six-and-a-half years. I truly value my time with you all. We have together shared a story that we love to tell — of Jesus and his love.

May we all, in whatever place we live, continue to share this great story through word and deed.